


as the river flows into the sea

by Kealpos



Series: Phango2019 [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Mer AU, Phango2019, Selkies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:43:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21507610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kealpos/pseuds/Kealpos
Summary: “So. You and your little friends want to hunt merpeople?”“Uh, actually, Dad? I want to be an astronaut.”
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley & Sam Manson
Series: Phango2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1550257
Comments: 1
Kudos: 89





	as the river flows into the sea

**Author's Note:**

> for [Phandom Bingo 2019](https://phandombingo.tumblr.com/post/189106280067/phandom-bingo-week-is-here-introducing-your-bingo) Prompt: Mer AU
> 
> this is actually my first time doing anything like this? honestly, i really enjoy that the dp fanbase allows writers to thrive too!
> 
> btw. selkies totally count as mermaids. it works.

_"So. You and your little friends want to hunt merpeople?"_

_"Uh, actually, Dad? I want to be an astronaut."_

-

Amity Cove was a shoreline town built way back when by a community of fishermen. There, the fishing was more peculiar than any other fishing town, though relatively unknown. The fish were bigger but wilder. There were more swimmers, but you almost got half as many catches as you did from any other fishing town in the U.S.

One odd couple, Madeline and Jack Fenton, moved in one day and decided that they were going to solve the mystery surrounding Amity. Their conclusion: Mermaids.

-

The Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus), also known as the blind cavefish, is a freshwater fish of the family Characidae of the order Characiformes. The type species of its genus, it is native to the Nearctic ecozone, originating in the lower Rio Grande and the Neueces and Pecos Rivers in Texas, as well as the central and eastern parts of Mexico.

No species has fallen prey to the "use it or lose it" rule of evolution quite like the Mexican tetra.

A. mexicanus is famous for its blind cave form, which is known by such names as blind cave tetra, blind tetra, blind cave characin and blind cavefish. Depending on the exact population, cave forms can have degenerated sight or have total loss of sight and even their eyes. The fish in the Pachón caves have lost their eyes completely whilst the fish from the Micos cave only have limited sight. Cave fish and surface fish are able to produce fertile offspring.

These fish can still, however, find their way around by means of their lateral lines, which are highly sensitive to fluctuating water pressure. Currently, about 30 cave populations are known, dispersed over three geographically distinct areas in a karst region of San Luis Potosí and far southern Tamaulipas, northeastern Mexico. Among the various cave population are at least three with only full cave forms (blind and without pigment), at least eleven with cave, "normal" and intermediate forms, and at least one with both cave and "normal" forms but no intermediates. Studies suggest at least two distinct genetic lineages occur among the blind populations, and the current distribution of populations arose by at least five independent invasions.

The eyed and eyeless forms of A. mexicanus, being members of the same species, are closely related and can interbreed making this species an excellent model organism for examining convergent and parallel evolution, regressive evolution in cave animals, and the genetic basis of regressive traits. This, combined with the ease of maintaining the species in captivity, has made it the most studied cavefish and likely also the most studied cave organism overall.

-

 _Mermaids?_ the ones stupid and polite enough to stay and listen will ask, and the Fentons will brighten and blather on and on about the fish-tailed creature from the stories.

Nobody ever believed them, if begrudgingly accepted their presence in the sleepy fishing town. Teenagers went to Triton High during the day, went to Nasty Burger to choose from a selection spanning from burgers to fish tacos afterward, and whispered about the Fenton household in-between. 

Everybody thought they were crazy.

That was before the water started coming to life.

-

_"And that? That is the Fenton Pool. It allows merpeople into our world whether I want it to or not. And someday, I'll figure out how that works too. Now, who wants to hunt some mermaids?"_

-

It should be impossible, but mermaids are real.

Sometimes you'll see creatures, scaly and fishy (in both senses of the word), whiz through the air. It's terrifying.

"It's fascinating," Maddie Fenton murmurs when she sees it in action for the first time. "They're actually manipulating the water in the air to give them access onto land. Amazing."

It stops being so amazing when they start blasting buildings with water with enough force to topple walls.

-

He’s a young mermaid - correction, mer _man_ \- with snow-white hair and glowing green eyes, like the glowing of an Anglerfish. His tail looks like a seal’s, all spotted black.

Nobody can say for sure who they think he is or what he's doing there, they just know he showed up one day, stopping the merpeople from wrecking the town - through means of direct damage or a freak hurricane, they just didn't get the chance to enact it.

They call him Water Boy. He insists on the name Harbor.

-

_“Harbor?”_

_“I figure that's the species of seal I am, bark bark and all that. I mean, I couldn't think of anything better. I thought maybe Exocoe might be cool, but it doesn't roll off the tongue as easily.”_

_“Why Exocoe?”_

_“It's short for Exocoetidae. The scientific name for Flying Fish.”_

_“Huh. Harbor is better.”_

_“They're still gonna keep calling you Water Boy, you know.”_

_“Yeah, I know.”_

_“I'm still going to keep calling you Water Boy.”_

_“...Yeah, I know.”_

-

“He's a hero,” some will say.

“He's a menace,” others will sniff.

“He saved my life!” A few will insist.

And, hey, it's not like anybody asks Danny Fenton his opinion on anything, with him being a loser and all. Besides, his parents are _the_ mermaid hunters. Everyone expects him to hold the same opinion as his parents: that they're monstrosities that need to be studied and then obliterated.

-

_“Tuck, you got my coat?”_

_“I got your coat, baby, go kick his ass.”_

_“Oh, shut up and give me my fucking seal powers.”_

_“Aye, aye, sir.”_

-

They would be wrong.

If anyone, just a single person, asked Danny Fenton what he thought about Harbor, about mermaids, about everything, he would look at them carefully, and the asker would, for the first time in their life, notice that his eyes are the blue color of reflective waves off the ocean. Then, he would look away and carefully reply, “I think it's weird,” and one of his friends - Tucker and Sam, never far from one another or from him - would pull him into something akin to a team huddle and they would dart off into the distance.

-

_“Do you wanna come into the Mer Zone with me? I want to try and map it out. As long as you're in the submarine, you'll be safe.”_

_“Uh, I'm pretty sure that a yes from both me and Tucker, Danny.”_

_“Is it cool?”_

_“Very. You guys have to wear the Siren Deflection headsets, though.”_

_“Aw, lame!”_

-

Danny Fenton wears a long seal coat everywhere he goes and his hair is always damp, no matter how much time passes and absolutely everyone is confused because Sam Manson is the Animal Activist with a capital A and yet she's not protesting his coat.

Sometimes they see Tucker and Sam around Harbor’s haunts. Never Danny, though. Never Danny.

-

_“Holy socks! You're the selkie!”_

_“The what-ie?”_

_“The selkie. Everybody in the Mer Zone talks about you. You're half a boy, half a seal-person. The selkie! You can change into a merman with your seal pelt and you have all our powers on the human plane. An- And you're using your powers for evil?”_

-

Nobody quite knows what's the deal with that Harbor merman.

-

_“Look, I know you think I'm pushy and I'm a know-it-all. I know you think I can be a jerk sometimes… You know, you can stop me at any time.”_

_“I know.”_

_“All I'm saying is I'm your sister and I care about you. And even though you don't think I'll understand, you can talk to me about anything.”_

_“Um… Well, I-”_

_“I'm just saying, if we can find that mermaid at Jazz's school, we're gonna gut that fish like a- a- a fish!"_

_"Well, we can't completely destroy it. Don't you want to at least examine the remains?”_

_“...I don't feel like talking about it.”_

_“Yeah, I'd imagine not.”_

-

Nobody knows what kind of state the town would be without him.

-

“Are you guys excited?” Danny asks, smiling slyly. His teeth, sharp enough to bring blood, just barely poke from his mouth. His whiskers (which he hilariously always loses when he takes his skin off again) tickle the side of Tucker's face.

Sam clutches onto Danny fearfully, watching the water. “I'm certainly feeling something.” Danny laughs - a barking seal’s laugh, nothing like the quiet, fearful little chuckle when he's at school or around family.

“Let's go, dude!” Tucker exclaims, and Danny obliges, and they dive into the ocean, the saltwater stinging their eyes but they can _breathe._

“Woah.” Sam looks around, eyes wide with awe. Her hair floats without getting wet. Danny propels his tail just a little bit. 

The further they dive, the darker it gets, when suddenly, Danny's face lights up in bioluminescence. Tucker forgot he can make his eyes glow.

And then, he lets them go.

And they float.

And it is _amazing._

“You know,” Danny murmurs after several minutes of general underwater fuckery, “it was worth going into that pool for this.”

Sam and Tucker grin. Danny grins back, seal tail waving listlessly in the water. Being a selkie has its perks.

-

Eh. Astronaut, Hero. Who's really counting the difference these days?

**Author's Note:**

> also available on [my tumblr](http://www.transannabeths.tumblr.com)


End file.
